Saturday, May 30, 2015

Last
year I
met a man on the wheelchair. A couple of weeks ago I noticed Veli
on the playground. We chatted while my kids played with his twin
girls. Veli told me about his skin and muscles transplantation last
summer. For a month and a half he had to stay in the hospital bed.

He
was in pain and got hospital bug. “At times I felt so down that I
was desperately waiting for someone to call me!” – He said. Veli
pulled through and after 47 days he took his car from hospital car
park. He’d made 1000 kilometres trip to his family in Bernalda.
Brave Veli’s doing very well.

“I’m
strong like a lion!” – He told me. Veli’s brothers live in
northern Italy. He applied for a job in Alitalia and wants to move to
Veneto with his family. “I won’t be thinking twice if they call
me! I’m all right in Bernalda but I’m tired of scraping by
financially. I’ll be better if I’ll be working.” – He told
me. Buona fortuna, Veli!

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

I
know a woman who is really cross with her ex. It’s been a long time
since he left but she’s still calling him “mine”. “My cretin,
my imbecile” – She says accusing him of having affair and other
bad things. It reminds of someone who died a long time ago - also
she was always mad. I remember her angry face.

She
was smoking her inseparable cigarette and complaining. “My death or
yours!” – She shouted. A moment later she was escaping from her
husband. After many years like that she got ill. Someone told me that
she passed away peacefully, smiling. Everyone deserves happiness, the
problem is that we expect others to make us happy.

It’s
hard to take people for who they are. We want to change others but
sometimes the best choice is to let go. Angelo’s grandmother lived
101 years. “How it was, grandma?” – He asked her once. “Like
the wind!” – She told him. Nothing lasts forever; hopefully also
bad memories will be gone sometimes.

Friday, May 22, 2015

I
dreamed that I returned to teaching. I was seeking excuses to keep
out the classroom… It didn’t felt right, just like in the past
when I was tired of feeling powerless. I didn’t know how to handle
disrespectful students. Many of my colleagues felt the same – but
not all of them. Recently I met lovely mum from Salerno. T. used to
teach in gymnasium.

„How
it was, working with today’s youth?” – I asked. “Amazing!”
– T. told me. “We had a good time!” I told her about my mom,
she was also a teacher. For two years we worked with the same
classes. During the lesson I used to look at the clock thinking:
“Please go faster!” while she was complaining that school bell
was ringing too early.

My
mother had a lot of experience, but M. was about my age. Also she had
to deal with challenging pupils, but despite the frustrating
experience she still liked teaching. Back in 2008 I went to visit M.
She was unemployed – her contract wasn’t extended. She found a
job in England but was back to Poland after a couple of years. I’m
glad that she did.

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Instead
of writing a new posts another real-life illustration. That's me
after reading the results of audience voting in writing contest on
Facebook. My short story „Blogger’s death” took 30th outta 33
entries...

Monday, May 18, 2015

“Today
is A.’s birthday!” – P. said reading Facebook messages on his
mobile. I like him - he’s one of the very few dads at the
playground. “You're both from Pisticci, you could have married
her!” – I joked. We started talking about matrimony. “If you
could turn back time would you remarry all over again?” – P.
asked.

“I
would have waited until my mid forties to start family!” – I told
him. “Once you’re mother, I've had a life devoted to your
children and that’s it.” P. knew what I meant. “You’re a dead
woman and I’m a dead man!” – He said. S. was sitting next to
me; she disagreed with him.

“Having
family is a lovely thing! Do you know what my daughter said to her
dad? ‘Keep quiet! Mom is in charge, and if she’s not at home, I’m
the boss, not you!”. We noticed G. coming: he’s another
Playground Dad. He kept his daughter’s bag.“I’ve got Violetta
bag and you not!” – G. joked.

Thursday, May 14, 2015

They
say that regional authorities want to stop the trucks with petroleum
waste. They promised before to resolve the problem of toxic vapours
but “la puzza” is still there. The toxic waters are coming from
Val d’Agri - the area in which there are the hugest oil field in
Italy and a protected naturalistic area. The presence of an oil
treatment centre means oil wells in the middle of National Park.

Few
days ago Angelo’s friend went to visit us. He works for Oil
Company. “I’m on the dirty side!” – A. joked. He believes
that oil industry is doing a lot of good for Basilicata. “At Gela
(Sicily) one baby in six is born with defects. At Taranto (Puglia)
new mothers are advised not to breastfeed because their milk is high
in toxins.”

Monday, May 11, 2015

I
keep thinking about I.B.Singer’s short story: is revealed through a
narrator who is also a character. The writer is on reading tour to
Argentina (I think). A mysterious girl wants him to meet some people:
they are even stranger. The Holocaust survivors are telling their
story. The writer wants to find them some time later but it seems
that they never existed. Maybe the Deads
wanted someone to listen to them?

Źródło: internet

To me the significance of the story is: what happened with enormous sufferance of all those people? Is it possible that it just vanished? Who did it to them? In “Moominvalley in November” by Tove Jansson little Toft reads about Protozoa. The creature is anatomically and physiologically herbivore, but developed aggressive behaviour.

Nothing has changed when it comes to reflection, rapidity, strength and other instincts which accompany the evolution of carnivores. It has wide flat teeth, weak paws and limited sight. Protozoa is an extraordinary form – it connects all attributes of placid herbivore and ineffective and incomprehensible aggressivity. That’s us: we were supposed to be good but something went wrong.

Friday, May 8, 2015

I
was chatting with C. when G. came. He’s one of the very few dads at
the playground. G. is very fond of syndicalism: it’s been quite few
years that he’s not working, but he’s still entitled to 80% of
his wage. He owes it to representatives of workers. C. was looking
for a job: she asked for help someone from Trade Unions. “He was
useless to me!” - She said.

“I
know!” – G. added. “I asked him to find something for A. ‘I
can't say no to you, but what can I do? Everyone wants people on
“cassa integrazione” [paid temporary layoff]. They cost much
less!” C. managed to find a job. According to her contract she will
work 150 days. Afterwards for a couple of months she’ll get
unemployment benefits.

Her
employer promised her another 150 days contract after that. At Nova
Siri I used to know the people who every year for few months worked
at Holiday Villages. For the rest of the year they were entitled to
unemployment benefits. G. is also keen socialist. “We used to have
a strong communist party in Italy!” – He said. “Your communism
is cassa integrazione!” – I told him.

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

We
had a store in our estate. We liked it a lot: it was quite big and
the owner was very popular person. You wouldn’t leave his grocery
without having a chat (you learn to appreciate it in a place like
ours, where nothing ever happens). Once I noticed C. at the store.
“It was horrible!” – She revealed.

“He
pointed a gun towards his head. It even scratched his nose!”. It
turned out that C. went to buy her cigarettes in the tabacchi shop.
The owners told her about the robbery in the early morning. Two
strangers threatened them with gun and disappeared with stolen money.
I left the store; on my way home I saw C.’s sister.

“She’s
got news for you!” – I joked. “What happened?” – She asked.
“C. will tell you!” – I said, but she wanted to know now. I
told her only to see C. coming. She understood that I stole her
interesting story… Since the grocery closed, there is ever less to
talk about in our industrial estate. Still they say that our priest
is organizing a festival in the village. I cannot wait!